Scotland

Another hidden gem at Burnmouth Bay….

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Wet again overnight but a dry, mostly grey day. Today we popped back to Scotland to visit Burnmouth Bay, and parked up in the village of Burnmouth just north of the border. From here it was a good mile down a very steep hill to the collection of little villages down on the bay.

This beautiful bay is home to four little villages – Partonhall, over on the far left a mere 3 or 4 cottages (though probably about 6 before they were returned and turned into holiday lets).

At the end of the harbour is Cowdrait almost a city with 15 houses.

Sporting a pretty unique row of well tended back gardens (not for gardeners without a head for heights!).

And at the end of the road and bay to the east – Ross – 6 houses and actually in a different parish!

How fabulous! Not forgetting of course Lower Burnmouth wwhich wends it’s way down the lower part of the access road just above this little harbour…

The Great Northern Storm of 1881 also took 24 fishermen from this little community and the Memorial sits proudly on the harbour wall.

It might not be a sandy beach but the sun has just started to shine and we are all alone (apart from the fishermen busy unloading their catch in the harbour) so we take a moment to enjoy this tranquil little hidden gem.

Before making our way back up the long and winding hill to the car and back to England.

Where else would we spend our last full day in Scotland….

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Well what a surprise today turned out – wall to wall sunshine and beautifully warm. After a few domestic chores (the Dyson is brilliant – Poppydog watch out!), we left our washing out on the line to air dry (a novelty in itself as it has either been too windy or too showery to risk) and set off for our favourite beach.

Eyebroughy beach – it doesn’t actually havery a name according to Mr OS but I tthink it deserves one and the island at the far end of the beach is called Eyebroughy – so that works for me!

We had a lovely afternoon and I don’t need to say anymore….

Two thoughts of the day:

I think this is the best all round place we have stayed, so far on our journey – plenty of walks from site, 4 beaches within easy reach – 3 of them generally empty and quite a few more within walking distance, walking distance to busy town of North Berwick and pretty villages of Gullane and Dirleton – ideal. St David’s in Pembrokeshire would be my second choice.

Sad to think that this us our last full day in Scotland for the time being but we will be back and will definitely call in here again.

A local beach run for us today…

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It was a very windy night and incidentally it didn’t occur to me to close the window to cut down on the noise until stupid o clock! By the morning the wind had died down a little but it was still quite wild though dry and quite sunny but only warm in the shelter. We are treating ourselves to a couple more beach days within walking distance of site, so today we headed down to Broad Sands.

Then off to the west to Eyebroughy Beach, our personal favourite and as per not a body in sight.

After a good stretch on here we wandered around the headland and along Muirhead Beach.

A good 6.5 mile tramp, battling the wind on the way out and being blown all the way back – one happy and hopefully tired Poppydog!

Walking along Peffer Sands….

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A dry and windy night followed by a dry and windy day! However, a little sun around in the afternoon so really very pleasant out of the breeze. As a final link along this shoreline, we parked up in a lay-by on the main road and walked the couple of miles down the farm access road to the shore on the west side of Peffer Burn (we did the east side whilst staying in Dunbar).

What a glorious sight – just miles of sand to the east of the burn…

And to the west, which we are exploring today…

Poppydog heaven, making footsteps in the pristine sand.

To the west of Peffer Sands the beach becomes rocky with a relatively narrow strip of soft sand running along until Scoughall Rocks, where it is totally rocky until you get to the end of Seacliff, where we were yesterday.

From here we could gave cut back inland towards the car, but it is so lovely here we chose to walk back along the beach instead.

A final play on Peffer Sands…

Before battling against the rising wind all the way back to the car! 6.5 miles.

Two thoughts of the day:

Well I have to say that so far on our Scottish adventure the beaches here have been absolutely stunning, good for walking to and along and importantly for us mostly deserted – perfect.

This is not an area I had ever really heard of before but it is certainly an area I would recommend and like to revisit.

Seacliff Bay – the best til last?…..

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After a showery and breezy night, there followed a showery and breezy day! It appears Autumn is here! Today we parked up in a lay-by just beyond Tantallon Castle (parking down at the beach is £3) and walked the mile or so down the lane to the beach with a pretty good view of the castle and Bass Rock.And wow! Our first glimpse did not disappoint.

Can you believe the whole beach was absolutely empty? Hardly a footstep in sight – this really is a beautiful beach.

A little old lighthouse on some rocks offshore just adds to the seascape and Poppydog is as free as a bird.

Look at Bass Rock – it’s a bit like Ailsa Craig was to us on the west coast – an important part of the seascape.

Tantallon Castle presenting a dramatically rugged skyline.

From the west end of the beach we clambered over the rocks for a bit to get a closer look at Tantallon Castle.

At the east end of the beach a thin strip of soft sand continued on around the corner, as did we.

As we reached the end of the sand and the rocks made it impossible to go on any further we turned about and…..

Oh yes a right proper Scottish shower was coming our way – was there anywhere to hide? No!

Aah well there are worse places to get a soaking and at least with the wind that has whipped up the shower soon passed us by and the wind dryed us out fairly quickly! The beauty of nature.

On the way back up to the car we found St Baldred’s Cave – mmm that would have been handy half an hour ago!

An absolutely stunning beach and a lovely 4 mile walk.

Two thoughts of the day:

This is one of the last beaches we shall see in Scotland this time around – have we saved the best til last?

At least on the coast you can invariably see the weather coming, can’t necessarily do anything about it but se la vie!